CAG will not put defense reports online: Including the Rafale report
The controversial Rafale report from the federal auditor, CAG, is a much-awaited piece of document. But the report on the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal is unlikely to be available online. This is because the auditor had instructed its officers last year to desist from the normal practice of uploading defence reports on its website for public consumption.
Seven defence reports were submitted in Parliament since October 2017. Five of these were submitted recently in the last monsoon session. But none of these is available on the auditor’s website, unlike other CAG reports on other subjects.
However, all CAG reports must be submitted to Parliament. In this sense, they are all public documents. The unavailability of the online version will restrict their accessibility. The CAG is yet to finalise its report on the Rafale deal. The Rafale deal is an intergovernmental agreement signed with France in 2016 to acquire 36 fighters in flyaway condition to boost India’s defence against China and Pakistan.
CAG will, most likely, present a comprehensive report on all recent defence acquisitions rather than a standalone report on Rafale. The observations on Rafale will likely be summarised into a chapter. The CAG is yet to hold an exit conference with the defence ministry. This is a mandatory procedure before the report is finalised.
The process will be completed sometime in January. Around October, last year, CAG had issued an internal directive to its defence wing to remove a few references available online. This included press releases issued on the subject. Simultaneously, no new reports were uploaded on the website.
The deleted paragraphs were on audit reports on the India-China border roads, ammunition management, functioning of Army Aviation Corps and shortfall in availability of BMP vehicles in the Army.
Is the CAG withholding the online version of the Rafale report a hint to the undermining of transparency? What do you think?
